Upon reading the two policy documents, A National Foreign Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement by the Clinton administration, and The National Foreign Strategy of the United States of America by the Bush administration, one may come to the conclusion that both documents address the same issues from the same perspective. Actually, the Bush's foreign policy appears as a "rough draft- of the Clinton's foreign policy, because it seems to utilize the basic outlines of the Clinton's policy. The only difference seems to be that the Clinton's foreign policy document is more organized and detailed, while the tone of Bush's policy document is informal and less detailed. Both documents appear to have the same perspective in regards to the spread of democracy, protecting American interest, dealing with regional conflicts, fighting terrorism, and the United States position in the world. .
However, there is one significant difference between the two policies. While the Bush's foreign policy wants its missions to be in accordance with national interest in the process of conducting and implementing foreign policy, the Clinton's foreign policy seemed to want to be involved in too many major conflicts occurring around the world without its articulating the proper goals. As a result, the Bush administration emphasizes on multilateralism and less use of American military involvement unilaterally. But in the end, the Bush's foreign policy ends up being continuity rather than a change in the United States foreign policy.
Principally, both administrations expressed the importance of human rights and the freedom of each individual by spreading democracy throughout the world. According to the Clinton administration, "we seek to increase respect for fundamental human rights in all states and encourage an evolution to democracy where it is possible- (II, page 22). As expressed in this quote, increasing individual freedom in states that abuses human rights and pushing for democracy to protect that freedom was one of the goals of Clinton's foreign policy.
